500 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[Sepr. 28, 1007. 

Trout Fishing in Wyoming. 
Camp WaASHAKIE,” Wyo., Sept. 21—Editor 
Forest and Stream: I had always heard the 
Philippine Islands abounded in opportunities 
for sport, and this is doubtless true of some lo- 
calities. I went prepared to devote consider- 
able energy to thé matter, but was disap- 
pointed, the country about my _ station 
afforded very little in the way of game—only a 
few snipe and an occasional duck—not enough 
of either to make a fair bag, even if one 
should have killed all there were in that vicinity, 
as 
while the physical exertion necessary to get 
any at all rendered shooting in that torrid 
climate almost dangerous to one’s health. We 
tried it for awhile, but in the end all gave it 
up as a failure. I have heard different accounts 
from other localities and doubt not that many 
parts of those islands offer fine sport. After 
serving out my tour in the islands, I returned 
with my regiment, arriving at San Francisco 
on May 15, last. We hastened along to our 
new station, Fort Robinson, Neb.,. which we 
reached on May 20. 
[ believe it was Longfellow who wrote “All 
things come round to him who does but wait.” 
and his sentiment found illustration in my ex- 
perience. I had always longed to be stationed 
at Fort Washakie. I had heard about it for 
years—its fine mountain climate—its numerous 
trout streams—its proximity to noble game and 
its nearness to the park. All these attractions 
had constantly stimulated my desire, but the 
opportunity had never occurred. The post was 
quite recently abandoned and turned over to 
the Interior Department, and I had _ conse- 
quently given up all expectation of ever ac- 
complishing my wishes. Upon our arrival at 
Robinson, however, we found instructions to 
send a troop of our regiment to camp near the 
old post for a while and keep the Indians 
quiet, as after the post was abandoned and the 
garrison withdrawn they had shown a disposi- 
tion to play the bully, and it was not con- 
sidered wise to leave so few whites unpro- 
tected among so many Indians. The Colonel 
offered me the detail with my troop (M), and 
in a few days we were on the ground made 
historic by the notebook of Bonneville and the 
pen of Irving. I send you a picture of our 
camp. It is too small to show the scenery, but 
you get a glimpse of the snow-covered Wind 
River Mountains in the background, although 
it was summer when the view was taken. 
Our camp is on the bank of Little Wind 
River, where, it is said, Colter used to trap. It is as 
fine a stream as one could wish. Its murmur- 
ing sings me to sleep at night, and it is the 
first thing I hear in the morning. We drink of 
its bright icy waters, and one can stand within 
a few yards of our kitchen and catch a fine trout 
or two quite frequently. 
This mountain air was a surprise to our ex- 
hausted Philippine condition. About a mile and 
a half down the stream and not far from its 
banks is a magnificent warm spring—mentioned 
by Bonneville—where we all go for our baths— 
it is said to be bottomless, I suppose that is 
merely a figure of speech, but at all events it 
is both deep and broad enough for all our pur- 
poses. All our rheumatism disappeared after 
a few weeks’ application of its waters. Con- 
veniently near it is a cold spring, so that with 
a little trouble we can stimulate our systems 
after the hot bath with a cold douche. My 
duty requires me to march about the reserva- 
tion and display our military force to the in- 
habitants—a most pleasant task. We can camp 
every night on a fine trout stream, and the en- 
tire force—we number only about thirty—sub- 
sists On trout on these marches. I have a de- 
tachment of Pack Train No. 3 of the OF Mab: 
—ten cargo and two saddle mules 
packers—and they are absolutely the finest I 
have ever seen, so we can go anywhere with- 
out difficulty, 
I have but just returned 
trip in the vicinity of Dubois, a small place of 
a few houses on the Big Wind, of little im- 
portance in itself, but which becomes more im- 
portant from the fact that it is situated on the 
wagon road to the park, and tourists get sup- 







with two 
from a ten days’ 


EIGHTH 
M TROOP, 
plies, mail and necessaries of all kinds there. 
from Fort Washakie into the park is said to 
be the most practicable wagon route, and the 
Wyo. & N. W. railroad, with terminus at 
Lander, has endeavored to make this route 
popular, and to that end has issued a very at- 
tractive folder which it would be worth any 
one’s while to procure if they contemplate a 
visit to either the park or the Jackson Lake 
country, 
On this trip we camped as usual every night 
on a trout stream and had all the fish we could 
eat. In fact, my men are such enthusiastic 
anglers that 1 hesitate to try to bring in many 
fish myself lest we have more than we can 
properly dispose of, and frequently release most 
of those I catch unless they are injured beyond 
recovery. These trout are the genuine speckled 
fellows, and in these icy waters even a small 
one makes considerable fuss when hooked—but 
big ones are plenty and we rarely need to 
bother with little fellows here. 
Taney’s Creek is crossed by the road at about 
five miles from Dubois, and if one is in quest 
of perfect trout fishing, that is the place for him 
to go. There is a small lake about four miles 
above the crossing, and both lake and stream 
appear to abound with big fellows, full of life, 
who seem to delight in attempting to deprive 
you of your flies by grabbing them and trying 
to swim off with them. They are fierce ones 
who need neither patience nor coaxing in their 
pursuit; all they ask is for the angler to put 
his flies in the water and they will attend to 
the rest. After the fishermen had all come in, 
dressed their capture and deposited it in a big 
army dishpan, I strolled to the cook fire to have 
a look at the day’s work. I was astonished. 
It was the most splendid fish exhibition I have 
ever seen, and I never expect to see it dupli- 
cated. I would blush to give numbers and 
weights, even had I taken them, which I did 
not, but I wish my friends of the Forest AND 
STREAM could have seen them with me. 
Soldiers, at least cavalry soldiers on the march, 
have good appetites, so in the end all these fish 
were duly consumed and none wasted, but if | 
ever camp on Taney’s Creek, again, I shall have 
to put an arbitrary limit on each man’s capture, 
as I do not wish so splendid an exhibition to be 
repeated—it is too extravagant for these days. 
There is a variety of fish more or less abun- 
dant in many of these streams called by some 
whitefish, by others grayling. I have no means 
of determining whether or not it is grayling; | 
have compared it with a picture of a grayling 
given in a monthly magazine, and the resem- 
blance appeared very close. I have read more 
or less about the grayling in the Forrest ANnp 
STREAM at one time, and have gotten the im- 
pression that it is considered equal if not 
superior to the trout, but I cannot consider 
the fish we have here under that name as even 
in the same class with the trout. His mouth 
appears too small to seize a lure as the trout 
does, consequently he takes little nips at it, and 
it is quite difficult to get him fairly hooked on 
a fly, though I doubt not if you gave him time 
enough he would gorge a bait and be readily 
captured by that means; but with a fly I must 
CAVALRY, 
AT CAMP WASHAKIE, 
consider the grayling—if this be the grayling— 
as a disappointment. We also regard him as 
inferior to the trout as a table fish. In fact, if 
this be the real grayling, the general con- 
sensus of opinion in this camp is that in streams 
from which he has disappeared he was not much 
loss if his place has been filled by trout. There 
appears no present danger of his disappearance 
from the streams about here, however, and if 
any one is in need of specimens, they can get 
them in great abundance at the confluence of 
Dinwiddie Creek with the Wind River. We 
were camped at that point and the men caught 
but few trout in that stream, as its waters were 
of a bluish-clay tint that seemed not to favor 
the trout’s taking the lure; but what they lacked 
in trout they easily made up in grayling (?) 
catching all we could eat for supper. They did 
this, however, wholly with grasshopper bait. 
When I was ordered here, I was informed 
that the detail would be but two months, when 
we would be relieved by another troop. I have 
already been here for more than that period and 
have been assured that I shall not be relieved 
before cold weather. Though it is an accepted 
saying that “Disappointment is the common 
lot,” in this instance I appear to have been an 
exception to the rule, and F will close by assur- 
ing Forrest anp STREAM fraternity that, in 
spite of this saying, one of their number has 
gotten the billet he wants. 
Wiru1aM F. Fiynn. 

Fly-Casting in the Wind. 
RECENTLY it was stated in these columns that 
tournament fly-casters anxious to try to equal 
or excel record casts have an almost hopeless 
task before them, the reason being the abnor- 
mally high scores made with the greatest ease 
by the members of the San Francisco Fly-Cast- 
ing Club in the heavy winds that Sweep across 
Stow Lake, in Golden Gate Park, San Fran- 
cisco, every afternoon. 
For example, at a recent meeting of this club, 
in the distance fly-casting event, which it is 
assumed was cast with 10 or II-ounce rods, 
seven out of the nine contestants cast 100 feet 
or over, high score being 124 feet, second man 
116 and third 111 feet. In the re-entry high man 
scored 121 feet. All these scores would be credit- 
able, under ordinary conditions, had they been 
made with two-handed salmon rods. 
It is unfortunate, not that the San Francisco 
Fly-Casting Club members are supurb fly-casters, 
but that they hold their contests at a place where 
the wind lifts the line on the back cast and 
carries it far ahead on the forward cast, so that 
men who could not average 100 feet under all 
conditions generally found in this sport make 
scores of 125, 130, even further with the greatest 
ease. It is true that some of the more expert 
members can average 100 to 120 feet in a calm, 
but taking conditions as they come—head winds, 
cross winds, puffy rear winds—and no man can 
hope to equal these great scores, 

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